


SOULS IGNITE

by lingeringflowers



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, DreamSMP - Freeform, Gen, Ghost!Tommy, Oneshot, TommyInnit - Freeform, Tubbo - Freeform, jack manifold is evil, niki nihachu, nuclear test, seriously jack stop putting these kids through more trauma please, tubbo is guilty, yes tommy dies im not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29219634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lingeringflowers/pseuds/lingeringflowers
Summary: It's the day of the nuclear test. Tubbo and Jack have prepared for this moment. How could it go so wrong?
Relationships: Tommyinnit & Tubbo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 133





	SOULS IGNITE

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i speed ran this after the nuke test stream but this ao3 account is new so feel free to leave constructive criticism! i hope you enjoy :)

The bright morning sun woke Tubbo up with a start. He stumbled out of bed to close the blinds, and was greeted by the gleaming hills of Snowchester. It was not normally this sunny, especially given that he lived in the snowy mountains, but Tubbo took it as a sign that today was going to be a great day. 

_ Shit _ . Tubbo had almost forgotten that today was the day of the nuke test. He needed to get in contact with Jack Manifold immediately. Rummaging through his drawers, he found his yellow hazmat suit and keycard. The keycard was most important, for without it the nukes wouldn’t operate. 

The excitement of it all began to buzz in Tubbo’s brain. He had always been into the wild side of science, first with the Dreamon hunting, then with trying to fix Ranboo’s memory via electric chair (a failed, but funny experiment attempt). But nukes, Tubbo had to admit were a little out there. The whole server had been exposed to various amounts of explosions, which is obvious given the massive crater that was L’Manberg.

L’Manberg. The rise and fall of a great nation. Probably less great under his own rule, courtesy of Schlatt. Tubbo didn’t like to think about L’Manberg much. He didn’t like reminiscing on his failures. 

The sun continued to rise over Snowchester, one of Tubbo’s greatest achievements. He really was proud of it- a little commune off to the side. No rules, no pig anarchists, no green bad guys obsessed with manipulating children. It was peaceful, except when Tubbo didn’t want it to be. Today was not a peaceful day, that’s for sure.

He checked the time briefly, and headed out to meet Jack at the docks. Tubbo reckoned they had about 30 minutes to prepare before the launch. He had already picked out a testing spot, and made sure it was far away from anyone accidentally finding it.

Tubbo bounded down the porch steps and saw Jack waving in the distance, diamond armour

sparkling. As he approached, he noticed Jack was speaking into a device, not one correlated with the nukes in any way. Tubbo had seen Jack with that device a lot lately. It seemed to be a communicator of some sort. Whatever, it was probably nothing to worry about. Tubbo trusted Jack.

_ “Trust no one Tubbo,”  _ Quackity’s hard line rang through Tubbo’s head without warning. No. Tubbo could trust Jack. He knew he could, right?

“Tubbo! How is it going mate?” Jack interrupted Tubbo’s thoughts. His feet had unknowingly carried him to the docks, where Jack awaited. 

“Jack, oh my gods, are you excited?! Because I am so, so excited Jack. This is gonna be fantastic!” Tubbo exclaimed, with a bit of mad scientist tone.

Jack nodded furiously. “You have your keycard, yes? Do not lose it,” Tubbo asked.

“Yep, no worries mate. So when you wanna… you know, send her off?”

“I was thinking about half an hour, because I have to warn everyone on the server. There cannot be, under any circumstances, any casualties, yea? This is just a test,” Tubbo hummed. His nervous energy was getting to him, and he paced around the dock. “I’m gonna send a message through comms, a bit of a PSA if you will.”

“Sounds good! Hey, Tubbo, I uh…. I need to speak to someone, I promise I will be quick!” Jack stuttered.

“Speak to who? C’mon Jack, today is the day! Don’t get distracted!” Tubbo frowned. 

“I know, I know-”

“Fine. Be quick. Don’t lose your keycard”. Tubbo watched as Jack hurried off, muttering into that odd little communicator. He turned to his own device, one of the ones everyone used on the server.  _ “THIS IS A PSA” _ , he typed out.  _ “NUCLEAR TESTING IS TO BEGIN IN APPROXIMATELY 23 MINUTES. AVOID ALL SNOWY AREAS.” _

That should do it. As Tubbo waited for Jack to return from… wherever the hell he went, he dived back into his thoughts. Secretly, he hoped the nukes didn’t work. Make no mistake, he was very excited to test them, but the thought of him, Tubbo, being made a threat to others because he had nukes… it unsettled him. People would start to fear him, and Tubbo didn’t want that. He wasn’t scary, he was just a guy. Hell, Tubbo was a pushover. His time as president made that very clear. Dream’s voice echoed through Tubbo’s head,  _ “You have no power. You are the worst president L’Manberg has ever seen, because you are no president at all!” _ He felt his skin crawl at those words. The worst part was that Dream was right. Quackity had more power in that country than Tubbo did. He let himself get pushed around into making decisions that weren’t his own. Maybe… maybe Tommy wouldn’t have been exiled if Tubbo hadn’t let himself be blinded by others persuasion.

But that didn’t matter now. What mattered now was the future. And hell, maybe the future was nuclear power! This time, Tubbo was making his own decisions, on his own terms. He smiled at the very thought.

Where the hell was Jack? Tubbo snapped back to reality. He glanced around, noticing Foolish and Ranboo mucking about in his potato farm. Glancing at his watch, he panicked, seeing as there was 10 minutes to launch. Quickly, he messaged Jack:  _ Where are you. _

_ On my way,  _ came the reply.

Minutes later, Tubbo heard Jack behind him.

“You ready, big man?” his accent drawled.

“Ready”, Tubbo replied.

They counted down from ten together.

_ 10… _

Tubbo glanced at Jack, expecting a smile.

_ 9… _

Instead, Jack was frantically typing into his communicator.

_ 8… _

What the hell?

_ 7…. _

Tubbo couldn’t help but be suspicious.

_ 6…. _

Would Tommy like this project very much?

_ 5… _

_ 4… _

Where was Tommy? He hadn’t seen him all day.

_ 3…. _

Jack was still typing.

_ 2… _

_ “Trust no one, Tubbo” _ said Quackity once more.

_ 1! _

Tubbo and Jack simultaneously inserted their keycards and watched as the nuke, charged with power, erupted from the docks into the sky, leaving a smokey trail. 

“OH MY GODS WE DID IT!” All previous wonderings left Tubbo’s brain as he watched his creation soar towards its destination. “C’mon Jack! We’ve got to go! To the tunnels!”

They raced together along the tunnel Tubbo had dug, just one day earlier. The pounding of their feet echoed on the stone floor. Tubbo’s heart thudded against his chest. It worked. He could barely believe it. 

The light at the end of the tunnel grew closer, and the two boys leapt up the cobblestone stairs to see looming spruce trees. Tubbo had a nagging feeling something was off, but he couldn’t place it. 

Suddenly, their communicators pinged. Tubbo neglected to check it, only just noticing the massive fucking hole-  _ holy shit! _ He ran to the edge, stumbling over shrapnel. This hole… was comparable to L’Manhole. His nukes had done this? 

Tubbo whipped out his journal and began taking notes about the experiment, wanting to record his findings. Engrossed in his work, he missed hearing the shout of glee from Jack. He didn’t see a flash of purple netherite and pink hair in the trees. He still hadn’t checked his communicator, which had pinged multiple times now. 

He looked out over the destruction, and allowed himself to be proud. He had done something no one else had. It was his, and his alone to claim. Tubbo’s happiness was short-lived however. 

Tubbo slid his journal back into his jacket pocket, fumbling for the communicator. He pulled it out and started thumbing through the messages:

_ <Ranboo> Tubbo where are you? _

_ <Ranboo> WHAT HAPPENED _

_ <FoolishG> …. tubbo ? _

_ <Ranboo> TUBBO WHAT DID YOU DO _

Tubbo grew more and more confused. Had something happened back at Snowchester with Ranboo and Foolish? He noticed more messages.

_ <Awesamdude> NO! _

_ <Awesamdude> TUBBO ?! _

_ <Ranboo> OH GOD NO _

What did Sam have to do with this? Tubbo felt a pit grow in his stomach. Two final notifications appeared, seconds after the blast:

_ <Dream> :) _

_ <TommyInnit> _ was blown up by _ <Tubbo_> _ using _ <Nuclear Warhead> _

__ Tubbo’s head spun.  _ What? _ No… he didn’t read that right. Surely not….. he checked the

messages again. Tommy…. was blown up? By Tubbo, by _him?_ _OH GOD._

_ No no no nonononono. _

Everything came crashing down. He tasted bile in his throat and faintly recognized that he was throwing up. Not Tommy, anyone but Tommy. He heard someone screaming. Everything hurt, the rain felt like fire to touch. He didn’t notice it was raining. As Tubbo cried earth-shaking sobs, the sky cried with him. Rivers pooled at the bottom of the crater, turning purple from the radiation.

Tubbo was aware he was getting poisoned by the air the longer he stayed outside, but he couldn’t move. He laid on the edge of the sheer drop down to bedrock, the void. His hands grasped thin air, searching for something,  _ someone _ , that wasn’t there anymore. 

_ Your fault. _

Dream spoke in his head. Tubbo clawed at his ears. No, he hadn’t meant to, it was an accident. Tommy, Tommy wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near here. 

_ Your fault. _

That time it was Awesamdude, dissapointed in Tubbo. He wasn’t pleased that the construction site would have to be removed, given that its owner was dead.

_ Your fault. _

Ranboo’s voice screamed at him, hoarse with rage. Tubbo had never known Ranboo to be angry. He hated it so much.

It was his fault, wasn’t it. All Tubbo had wanted was to make a decision on his own, without being pressured. He had missed the excitement of new things. He wanted a taste of freedom.

All he got was a dead best friend.

Tubbo lifted his head towards the sky and drowned in his sorrows.

\--

  
  


It had been a month since the nuclear test. One month since the death of TommyInnit. The whole server felt it. It was like someone had removed all the color from the world, and everything was grey. Except there was color, Tubbo could see it from his window. It wasn’t the Snowchester window, Tubbo hadn’t set foot in snow since the incident. That’s what everyone called it. They tiptoed around saying what really happened, as to not upset him. But Tubbo wasn’t stupid. He knew what he did. So he punished himself, by moving away from his beloved Snowchester and tediously rebuilding his very first house on the server. It took weeks, but Tubbo forced himself to do all the labor. Maybe it was a distraction, but what did it matter. 

Ranboo visited Tubbo everyday. At first it pissed him off, but he grew to appreciate the endermen’s presence. Life had grown so quiet without Tommy. 

Jack Manifold and Niki were punished harshly for their crimes, and joined Dream in prison. They said they had the right intentions, but Tubbo had a very hard time believing them. And yet, as much as Ranboo tried to tell him otherwise, Tubbo still blamed himself. After all, they were  _ his _ nukes.

Tubbo refused to walk on the prime path. He had tried one day, but every step felt like a stab in the chest. He didn’t stop crying that entire day.

Tommy was everywhere. On the prime path, at the camaravan, in Eret’s museum, in Tubbo’s  _ fucking _ head. Tommy could be heard through laughter and music discs. Tubbo couldn’t play the discs anymore. After all the fuss over them, the wars and the tears, they sat collecting dust in his ender chest. 

Tubbo owned all of Tommy’s things now. His crossbow and trident he stole from Dream.  _ How To Sex _ (which Tubbo glued shut, and for good reason), and Schlatt’s bones. He liked to look through them, because if he did it long enough, he could feel Tommy’s presence just by his side, like old times on the bench.

That was what Tubbo was doing now. He thumbed through the pages of some of Tommy’s books, and started to read aloud.

“Women are poggers. If I ever met a woman in real life, I would ask for her Snapchat. Oh, but I hate men. Men, listen, do not-”

“-go out past 9 pm GMT, or I will beat you”, a familiar voice recited. 

Tubbo’s breath caught in his throat. He sat on his kitchen floor, frozen to the spot. It couldn’t be….

“Hey big man, it's me”, said TommyInnit.

Tubbo swivelled around, eyes wide with shock. Blue eyes met blue and Tubbo took in the sight of his best friend. He was different, skin pale like moonlight. He wore the same ratty red t-shirt, but with a bandana around his neck and a beanie atop his head. 

Tubbo took a rattling breath. 

“.... Tommy?” The blonde nodded.

“Tommy!” Tubbo flung himself into the taller boy’s arms, thankful that he didn’t drift right through. “H-how? Are you-”

“I’m dead as fuck, Tubbo”, Tommy teased. “I’m like Ghostbur, mate!”

Tubbo punched Tommy in the shoulder.

“Hey! Whatthefuck!”

“HEY!” Tubbo exclaimed, his face getting redder. “Were you just gonna wait forever to return like this? Why couldn’t you have just come back! I thought I had- I KILLED you! I thought I lost you….” Tubbo promptly broke into tears.

Tommy never was one for physical touch, but now that he was a ghost (huh… GhostInnit?), he didn’t think he would care too much. Wrapping Tubbo in a hug, he whispered, “You didn’t kill me, that bastard Jack Manifold did”. 

Tubbo tried to protest but Tommy reassured him it was okay. 

“Look at me. I am okay man! I kinda like being dead anyway. I can fucking float and shit!” Tubbo laughed, wiping his tears away. 

“I’m still so sorry,” He pleaded.

“Enough. I know what will cheer you up,” Tommy walked to his ender chest and got out two colored plastic discs. Tubbo took a sharp breath. He pointed at  _ Cat _ , and Tommy nodded, grinning. The two boys walked the prime path back to Tommy’s house, where the bench sat. 

As the sun set slowly, a scene unfolded. Two kids, subjected to more pain than any one person should, are at peace. Their souls can finally rest, each getting what they wanted: each other.

  
  



End file.
